Roofing-shingle.



No. 718,284. PATENTED JAN. 13, 1903.

W. G. & J. G. SHARP.

ROOFING SHIN GLE. urmo'umn FILED DBO. a, 1901.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

.NO MODEL.

WITNESSES: W

WW9 W UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM G. SHARP, OF PARKERSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA, AND JOHN C. SHARP, OF WINAMAC, INDIANA.

ROOFING-SHINGLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 718,284, dated January 13, 1903.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern.

Be it known that we, WILLIAM C. SHARP, residing at Parkersburg, in the county of Wood and State of West Virginia, and JOHN G. SHARP, residing at Winamac, in the county of Pulaski and State of Indiana, citizens of the United States, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Roofing-Shingles, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates more particularly'to improvements in roofing-shingles made of plastic shale or clay and suitably burned. Like the old an d well-known wooden shingles, our roofing-shingles are laid one upon another and are dependent upon their long laps, close-fitting flat surfaces at said laps, and the proper breaking of joints in order to render the roof waterproof.

Our invention does not apply to what are commonly known as interlocking roofingtiles of the kind which overlap each other but slightly at their ends and such as have a gutter or groove at one side and an overhanging fiange or a combined flange and tongue at the other side for interlocking purposes and to prevent leakage of the roof at the side joints of the tile.

The object of our invention is to produce both plain and ornamental roofing shingles or tile of the aforesaid long overlapping kind which will be cheap, light, strong, durable, and fireproof, also well adapted to form a waterproof roof for buildings having a rooffoundation of rather low or fiat pitch, as well as for those of greater pitch or with more fall.

Heretofore roofing-tile of the long overlapping-shingle kind have usually been made with a body of uniform thickness from one end to the other, thus making the upper end so thick that the butt or lower end of the tile must be considerably elevated in order that its under side mayproperly clear and that the tile may not rock on the upper corner of the upper end of the tile that is laid beneath it. The higher the butts of the tile are raised the more poorly they are adapted to make a good reliable roof where the pitch of the rooffoundation is already rather flat or has but little fall, and to remedy this difficulty as much as possible is also a very important object of our invention, which we preferably accomplish by beveling olf the under side of the tile, beginning at a point about two-thirds of the length of the tile from the butt or lower end and finishing at the upper end of the tile, thus making it much thinner at its upper end,

so that the tile can now be laid with its butt much lower than in the otherinstance above cited, and our tile are therefore much better adapted to make a good roof for buildings with a low or fiat pitch than the tile with thicker upperends, and our tile do not,therefore, make such a thick and heavy appearing roof and have other good features hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating our invention, Figure l is a side elevation of a section of a roof composed of our shingletile. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a section of a roof composed of our shingle-tile with plain butts. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a section of a roof composed of our shingle-tile, also showing in side elevation said tile and a downwardly-projecting flange a, for closing the space beneath the tile. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a section of a roof composed of our shingle-tile with plain butts, also showing in side elevation said tile with a downwardly-projecting flange Ct for closing the space beneath the tile. Fig. 5 is a top View of one of our shingle-tile. Fig. 6 is a view of one of our shingle-tile turned over and showing the bottom side thereof. .Fig. 7 is a view of one of our shingle tile turned over to show the bottom side thereof and'also the flanges a, one of which flanges is also I shown on each tile in Figs. 3 and 4. Fig. 8 is a plan view of some of our shingle-tile assembled or laid up to form a section of a roof.

Fig. 9 is a plan View of some of our shingle:

part of uniform thickness throughout its entire length, such tile make a very heavy roof. Weight can be saved and sufficient strength maintained where it is needed by tapering the body of the tile to a blunt point at its upper end; but it is found that a true taper of the top and bottom sides similar to that of the ordinary wooden shingles will not answer the purpose, as the butts of tile thus tapered would rise higher and higher with each course laid upon the roof until they would finally reach a perpendicular position, for the reason that tile thus tapered do not lie down closely or take a full flat bearing upon each other, causing the open space between them to increase slightly in each course laid. This gain would be less if the shingle-tile could be tapered to a thin point like a wooden shingle; but this cannot be done without making that part of the tile too weak. Fur thermore, the tile being rigid, cannot with safety be sprung down in the nailing, so as to take a full flat bearing on the tile beneath it, as in the case of the more flexible Wooden shingle. In order to make a good safe roof of shingle-tile, it is very essential that they should take a full flat bearing upon each other where they overlap, and to accomplish this, reduce the weight, and cause the butts of the tile to lie down closer to the roof-foundation we preferably make our shingle-tile A, A, and A of a peculiar shape, which it will be seen is not a true taper of the top and bottom sides, nor is the body of our tile of a uniform thickness throughout, but the top side, where it is overlapped when laid upon a roof-foundation with other tile, as shown in Fig. l and shown separately in Fig. 5, is a single plane or straight line extending from X to Z at the upper end of the tile, and the bottom side of the tile, as shown in Figs. 2, 6, and 7, is composed of two difierent planes or lines joined, one running straight from W and for a short distance parallel to the top side lines as far as Y, where it joins the other plane or line, which slants slightly upwardly and extends from Y to Z at the upper end of the tile, thus making the bottom side of the tile from Y to Z of a beveled shape. To fill up the open space beneath the tile and to strengthen and stiffen the tile at the aforesaid beveled part, we sometimes make flanges a, projecting downwardly from the bottom of the tile at its sides, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 and also shown on the inverted tile in Fig. 7.

The exposed surface of the top side of our tile from the butt-end of the tile to X, Fig. 5, can be made of uniform thickness and plain, so the tile would appear like those shown in Figs. 2, 4L, and 10; but we preferably make on the top of the tile at its sides upwardlyprojecting short longitudinal flanges b, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, 5, 8, and 9, which flanges turn the water away from the side joints of the tile, and the shoulders at the upper ends of said flanges can be made to serve as stops or gages for regulating the length of the lap of the tile that is laid above it. These flanges also stifien and strengthen that part of the body of the tile to which they are joined. In some cases, we make an upwardly-projecting central part c on the exposed surface of the tile, as shown in Figs. 5 and 8, which we usually make of the same length and height as the upwardly-projecting side flanges b, aforesaid. The central part 0 serves to turn some of the matter away from the side joint of the tile below it, makes an ornamental finish, strengthens and stiifens that part of the tile, and the upper end of said central part 0 may also answer as a gage for regulating the length of the lap of the tile above it and serves to hold the said upper tile in its proper position. To bring out the joint lines more clearly and relieve the monotony of the otherwise plain appearing surface, we sometimes round oft the upper corners of the tile at their sides, as shown in Fig. 10.

To make a roof of our shingle-tile, we preferably lay at the eaves a course of shorter tapered eaves-tiles cl, which are nailed to the sheathing-boards h. Then we cover the eavestiles d with a course of the full-length tiles, which are also nailed to the sheathing-boards, the nails passing through the holesf, made therefor at the upper ends of the tile. As the successive courses are laid the joints are broken, as is always customary in laying wooden shingles or shingle-tile, and in our case by the use of a half-tile A A, or A where necessary, and half-width eaves-tiles are also used where joints should be broken or mismatched.

Our roofing-shingles can also be made of glass or suitable cement as well as of clay or shale.

While we have shown and described the preferred form of our invention, we do not wish to be limited thereto, as many slight modifications could be made without departing from the spirit of our invention.

What we claim as our invention, and wish to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a shingle-tile, the combination of a rectangular body part with approximately two-thirds of its rear top surface made on a plane or with a straight outline, and its bottom surface made up of two difierent planes, joined, one of which planes begins at the butt-end of the tile and extends rearwardly, approximately one-third of the length of the tile, and there joins another plane that slants therefrom, slightly upwardly, and continues on the same slant to the rear end of the tile, which makes the bottom surface of the rear part of the tile of a beveled outline, and the first above-mentioned bottom-surface plane is made to run for a short distance parallel to the said top-surface plane, and of suitable means for securing said shingle-tile to a rooffoundation, all substantially as shown and described and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a shingle-tile, the combination of a rectangular body part with approximately two-thirds of its rear top surface made on a plane or with a straight outline, and its bottom surface made up of two different planes, joined, one of which planes begins at the butt-end of the tile and extends rearwardly, approximately one-third of the length of the tile, and there joins another plane that slants therefrom, slightly upwardly, and continues on the same slant to the rear end of the tile, which makes the bottom surface of the rear part of the tile of a beveled outline, and the first above-mentioned bottom-surface plane is made to run for a short distance parallel to the said top-surface plane, longitudinally-disposed upwardly-projecting flanges, I), made on the top of the butt part of the tile, at its sides, and of means for securing said shingle tile to a roof-foundation, all substantially as shown and described and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a shingle-tile, the combination of a rectangular body part with approximately two-thirds of its rear top surface made on a plane or with a straight outline, and its bottom surface made upof two different planes, joined, one of which planes begins at the butt-end of the tile and extends rearwardly, approximately one-third of the length of the tile, and there joins another plane that slants therefrom, slightly upwardly, and continues on the same slant to the rear end of the tile, which makes the bottom surface of the rear part of the tile of a beveled outline, and the first above-mentioned bottom-surface plane is made to run for a short distance parallel to the said top-surface plane, a centrally-located upwardly-projecting longitudinallydisposed part, 0, made on the top of the butt part of the tile, and of suitable means for securing said shingle-tile to a roof part, all. substantially as shown and described and for the purpose set forth.

4. In a shingle-tile, the combination of a rectangular body part with approximately tWo-thirdsof its rear top surface made on a plane or with a straight outline, and its bottom surface made up of two different planes, joined, one of which'planes begins at the butt-end of the tile and extends'rearwardly, approximately one-third of the length of the tile, and there joins another plane that slants therefrom, slightly upwardly, and continues on the same slant to the rear end of the tile, which makes the bottom surface of the rear part of the tile of a beveled outline, and the first above-mentioned bottom-surface plane is made to run for a short distance parallel to the said top-surface plane; a centrally-located upwardlyprojecting longitudinallydisposed part, 0, made on the top of the butt part of the tile, longitudinally-disposed upwardly-projecting flanges, I), made on the top part of the butt-end of the tile at its sides, and of suitable means forsecuring said shingle-tile to a roof-foundation, all substantially as shown and described and for the purpose set forth.

5. In a shingle-tile, the combination of a rectangular body part with approximately two-thirds of its reartop surface made on a plane or with a straight outline, and its bot-' tom surface made up of two' different planes, joined, one of which planes begins at the buttend of the tile and extends rearwardly, approximately one-third of the length of the tile, and there joins another plane that slants therefrom, slightly upwardly, and continues on the same slant to the rear end of the tile, which makes the bottom surface of the rear part of the tile of a beveled outline, and the first above-mentioned bottom-surface plane is made to run for a short distance parallel to the said top-surface plane, a downwardlyprojecting longitudinally disposed flange made on said beveled part of the bottom of the tile, and of suitable means for securing said shingle-tile to a roof-foundation, all sub-- stantially as shown and described and for the purpose set forth.

6. In a shingle-tile, the combination of a rectangular body part with approximately twothirds of its rear top surface made on a planeor with a straight outline, and its bottom surface made up of two different planes,

joined, one of which planes begins at-the' butt-end of the tile and extends rearwardly, approximately one-third of the length of the tile, and there joins another plane that slants therefrom, slightly upwardly, and continues on the same plane to the rear end of the tile, which makes the bottom surface of the rear first above-mentioned bottom-surface plane is made to run for a short distance parallel to the said top-surface plane, a downwardly-projecting longitudinally-disposed flange made on said beveled part of the bottom of the tile, longitudinally-disposed upwardly-projecting flanges, I), made on the top part of the buttend of the tile at its sides, and of suitable means for securing said shingle-tile to a rooffoundation, all substantially as shown and described and for the purpose set forth.

7. In a shingle-tile, the combination of a rectangular body part with approximately two-thirds of its rear top surface made on-a plane or with a straight outline, and its bottom surface made up of two different planes, joined, one of which planes begins at'the butt-end of the tile and extends rearwardly, approximately one-third of the length of the tile, and there joins another plane that slants therefrom, slightly upwardly, and continues on the same slant to the rear end of the tile, which makes the bottom surface of the rear part of the tile of a beveled outline, and the first abovementioned bottom-surface plane is made to run for a short distance parallelto the said top-surface plane, a downwardly-projecting longitudinally-disposed flange made on said beveled part of the bottom of the tile, a centrally-located upwardly-projecting 1ongitudinally-disposed part, 0, made on the top of the butt part of the tile, and of suitable means for securing said shingle-tile to a rooffoundation, all substantially as shown and described and for the purpose set forth.

8. In a shingle-tile, the combination of a rectangular body part with approximately two-thirds of its rear top surface made on a plane or with a straight outline, and its bottom surface made up of two diiferent planes, joined, one of which planes begins at the butt-end of the tile and extends rearwardly, approximately one-third of the length of the tile, and there joins another plane that slants therefrom, slightly upwardly, and continues on the same slant to the rear end of the tile, which makes the bottom surface of the rear part of the tile of a beveled outline, and the first above-mentioned bottom-surface plane is made to run for a short distance parallel to the said top-surface plane, a downwardly-projecting longitudinally-disposed flange made on said beveled part of the bottom of the tile, a centrally-located upwardly-projecting longitudinally-disposed part, 0, made on the top of the butt part of the tile, longitudinallydisposed upwardly-projecting flanges, b, made on the top of the butt part of the tile, and of suitable means for securing said shingle-tile to a roof-foundation, all substantially as shown and described and for the purpose set forth.

9. In a shingle-tile, the combination of a rectangular body part with approximately two-thirds of its rear top surface made on a plane or with a straight outline, and its bottom surface made up of two different planes, joined, one of which planes begins at the butt-end of the tile and extends rearwardly, approximately one-third of the length of the tile, and there joins another plane that slants therefrom, slightly upwardly, and continues on the same slant to the rear end of the tile, which makes the bottom surface of the rear part of the tile of a beveled outline, and the first above-mentioned bottom-surface plane is made to run for a short distance parallel to the said top-surface plane, a shoulder or stop made on the body of the tile to serve as a gage for regulating the lap of another similarlyconstructed tile laid above it, in forming a roof, and of suitable means for securing, the first-mentioned shingle-tile to a roof-foundation, all substantially as shown and described and for the purpose set forth.

10. In ashingle-tile, the combination of a rectangular main or body part with its top surface made up of a plurality of planes with their ends joined together in the direction of the length of the tile, its bottom surface also made up of a plurality of planes with their ends joined together in the direction of the length of the tile, one of said bottom-surface planes made to run parallel to one of said top-surface planes, said bottom-surface planes made with such relation to the top-surface planes as to render the rear portion of the tile thinner than the butt part, and a part of said bottom surface made so as to fit and take a full fiat bearing upon a part of the top surface of another shingle-tile of similar construction, when both are laid up to form a roof similar to that of the old and well-known overlapping wooden shingle kind, and of a nail-hole through the rear part of said body part of said shingle-tile for nailing it to a roof-foundation, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof We have signed our names to this specification each in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM G. SHARP. JOHN G. SHARP. Vt itnesses to signature of William 0. Sharp:

J. (3. WHITE, JOHN M. GREGG. Witnesses to signature of John C. Sharp:

CHARLES J. HANCOX, MELVIN M. SNOW. 

